It really seemed like we were finally going to get Garth Ennis' Preacher this time -- the dark, funny, and controversial comic book series seemed perfect for HBO. Isn't that what they do, after all?

Apparently not. Mark Steven Johnson told Comics Continuum that they've passed on the series. "We were budgeting and everything and it was getting really close to going. But the new head of HBO felt it was just too dark and too violent and too controversial. Which, of course, is kind of the point! It was a very faithful adaptation of the first few books, nearly word for word. They offered me the chance to redevelop it but I refused. I've learned my lesson on that front and I won't do it again. So I'm afraid it's dead at HBO."

But, Johnson says that he's heard that someone is trying to obtain the rights for a big screen adaptation, and that he hopes it happens -- and that whoever nabs it can do the stories justice in a series of films. "Someone" doesn't narrow it down much, but shall we let our imaginations run wild? Frankly, in this world where the legendarily un-filmable (Lord of the Rings, Watchmen) is being made every day, I can't believe Preacher remains untouched. Isn't every studio dying for its own mature comic franchise? Isn't there a daring young filmmaker who's just dying to be boycotted, picketed, and harassed? Aren't we constantly hearing that all publicity, no matter how bad and hysterical, is desirable? Let's put it to the test. Whoever that "someone" is that's angling for the rights, may they succeed, and get Preacher on the big screen.

I think this'll be my last Outlander post for a while; you're probably sick of hearing about it by now. But I think I owe you this one as a matter of follow-through. You see, the buzz on the internets is that, as feared, the Weinstein Company is sending the nearly $50 million dollar Vikings-fight-aliens adventure film to direct-to-DVD oblivion.

The source of this semi-substantiated rumor is that a couple of online DVD retailers, such as Movies Unlimited and Amazon have listed a November 18th, 2008 release date for the movie, with Movies Unlimited now accepting pre-orders. No theatrical release date was ever announced, and needless to say, if the DVD release date is accurate, it rules out any sort of theatrical appearance.

I guess I'm a little surprised at the dump, simply because the movie's so darn expensive. But it's the Weinsteins, theatrical releases themselves cost a lot of money, and this was more of a cult item from the start anyway. In any case, November is certainly sooner than I expected to be able to see the thing.

Important to note that there's no official confirmation from the distributor on the DVD release, so this could all be one big mistake. But it doesn't look good.

[via SlashFilm]

I'm not one of those waiting for Transformers 2: Revenge of the Fallen with a whole lot of anticipation. I feel bad about saying that, but let's face it, Transformers passed me right by as I was playing with Strawberry Shortcake. Many have tried to re-educate me on the awesomeness of Optimus Prime, and failed.

Nevertheless, even I have to admit it's pretty cool when a screenwriter drops in among their fans for a good sequel chat. That's what Robert Orci, one of the scriptwriters for Transformers 1 and 2, has done over at Transformer World 2005. The dedicated can sift through what is currently 82(!) pages of script Q&A, by the time you read this, it will probably be 182. Much of it is hints as to which robots might factor into the sequel -- including a tease that Arcee, the girl Transformer, might appear. On the other hand, he's careful to remind fans that anything you hear about the film is probably careful disinformation, but well meant. "It is fun to 'play' with fandom, not to toy with fandom -- I do not hand out disinformation."

But there's a few reliable sounding bits in here. According to Orci, the sequel will be more "global" in scale, and that there won't a lot of re-introductions. "The first movie is all about the mystery and reveal of the Transformers as a concept and a species, which means we had to hide them a lot in the first hour. In the second movie, now that everyone believes in the universe, we can jump right into the world of the Transformers." The movie will be firmly rooted in Transformers mythology, but will also maintain the "liberties" taken with it in the first film.

He insists they're listening to fan input, so anything you want to see, now's the time to demand it. I'm going to go ahead and demand Arcee, if only to ponder how Transformers can have gender, and whether she will be pink.

Tropic Thunder held onto the top spot for two weeks in a row, followed by The House Bunny and Death Race. Last week's two other newbies The Longshots and The Rocker took the number 10 and 13th spots respectively. Here's what the top five looked like:

1. Tropic Thunder: $16.2 million
2. The House Bunny: $14.5 million
3. Death Race: $12.6 million
4. The Dark Knight: $10.5 million
5. Star Wars: The Clone Wars: $5.6 million

Babylon A.D.
What's It All About: Vin Diesel stars in this futuristic actioner as a bodyguard charged with delivering a young woman from Russia to the U.S. Little does he realize that she is hosting an organism that a cult hopes to use to create a new messiah.
Why It Might Do Well: While not on a par with this Summer's biggest flicks, Babylon A.D. represents the last gasp of the season's eye candy movies and it's getting a really wide release.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Those thinking this might be a big screen version of Babylon 5 may be in for a disappointment. Also, with five reviews in, Rottentomatoes.com is giving this 0% rotten as of this writing.
Number of Theaters: 3,200
Prediction: $23 million

College
What's It All About: Drake Bell from Nikolodeon's Drake and Josh plays one of several high school kids on a college visit looking to party. Hijinks and projectile vomiting ensue.
Why It Might Do Well: Someone must feel nostalgic for those bowl-hugging college days.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Because part of me wants to believe there is justice in the universe.
Number of Theaters: 2,000
Prediction: $5 million

Disaster Movie
What's It All About: Jason Friedberg and Aaron Seltzer, the writer/director team behind Meet the Spartans, Epic Movie and the Scary Movie franchise go to the well once again with a flick that parodies disaster movies, super hero flicks and various pop culture icons.
Why It Might Do Well: Like them or not, Friedberg and Seltzer's movies tend to make a respectable if not stellar profit.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Maybe the public has had enough of these things. I can dream, can't I?
Number of Theaters: 2,500
Prediction: $11 million

Traitor
(opens Wednesday)
What's It All About: Don Cheadle stars in this tale of international intrigue as a deep cover CIA agent under investigation by the FBI as a possible terrorist.
Why It Might Do Well: In addition to Cheadle the impressive cast includes Guy Pearce and Jeff Daniels.
Why It Might Not Do Well: Fresh off the Summer blockbuster season, will audiences want a film about such weighty matters?
Number of Theaters: 2,054
Prediction: $9 million

Box office predictions become a much wilder and woolier proposition once blockbuster season ends, making it all the more exciting if you ask me. Here's what I think next week's top five will be:
1. Babylon A.D.
2. Disaster Movie
3. Traitor
4. Tropic Thunder
5. Death Race

Last week's top five took us all by surprise. Most didn't think Tropic Thunder would take another week at number one, and many expected The Rocker to do better. Here's how we all did:
1. LostinaFog: 7
2. I Eat Robots: 6
2. Romel: 6
2. Smiggy: 6
2. Victor de la torre: 6
2. Mike: 6
2. Adam P: 6
2. Vera: 6
3. Matt: 4
3. Chris: 4
3. Alex: 4
3. Liz: 4
3. Vega: 4
3. Zctop: 4
3. NP: 4
3. Ray: 4
3. VP: 4
3. AJ Wiley: 4
3. Greatone: 4

Post your predictions for the top five movies in the comments section below before 5:00PM Eastern Time on Friday. One point for every top five movie correctly named, two points for every correct placement, and one extra point for the top movie.

Fans of the Riddick franchise -- all six of us -- thought for sure that, despite occasional rumblings to the contrary, the series was dead. The expansive, expensive Chronicles of Riddick was trashed upon release, after all, and flopped at the box office (at least domestically). Another sequel seemed foolhardy, sure to be met with gales of laughter from the same peanut gallery that so readily dismissed Chronicles.

I still think that's probably true, but I won't tell Vin Diesel, who is determined to make two more sequels happen. In an interview with MTV, he said that writer-director David Twohy is currently working on the scripts, and that the "only question" is whether they will be shot together, LoTR-style, or as two separate productions. Why did it take so long? No money problems, Diesel insists -- they just want to get it right. This was, after all, envisioned as a trilogy, with Pitch Black acting as a stand-alone companion film.

I've wasted a lot of breath defending The Chronicles of Riddick to naysayers, and have pretty much accepted that the film will never meet with much popularity. (My hopes that it would become a cult hit on DVD despite its initial chilly reception have been cruelly dashed, though the spin-off video game proved popular.) I continue to think that it's an ambitious, genuinely interesting piece of science-fiction and world-building. So I'll gladly get excited for sequels from the same creative team, even as I harbor doubts that they'll actually get made.

It comes as little surprise whenever a studio decides to kindly remove a film from a director's hands -- the situation with Lionsgate's treatment of Punisher: War Zone still smells fishy from this end -- but while most filmmakers would proceed to bite their tongues and salvage their careers, Mathieu Kassovitz begs to differ on his own film, the Vin Diesel vehicle Babylon A.D., which opens this Friday in an all-too-familiar August dump situation (joining it on the marquee: alleged comedies Disaster Movie and College).

In an exclusive interview with AMC's sci-fi blog, Kassovitz admits that a troubled production and comprised final cut (at least in the States, although reviews from elsewhere aren't much kinder) are responsible for turning his adaptation of Maurice Georges Dantec's futuristic novel into "pure violence and stupidity... like a bad episode of '24'."

Believe me, I struggled long and hard to come up with a catchy title like 'From Mars to Metro City' or something like that, but hey, sometimes a pun just isn't going to happen and it's best to move on. Variety reports that Kristen Bell has signed to voice the female lead in the feature film adaptation of Astro Boy. If you know your Astro Boy, you probably don't remember many female leads in the story, but hey, count your blessings if this is the only change in store for the classic manga tale.

Astro Boy was written by Timothy Harris, and is the story of a boy robot who is abandoned by his creator and left to fend for himself in the wilds of Metro City. The robotic Pinocchio tale had it all, absent father figures, betrayal, and robot gladiators, you know, just your usual kid's story. Bell will be joining Nicholas Cage, Freddie Highmore, Nathan Lane, and Bill Nighy in Imagi Studios 3-D update of the classic manga.

So while she may not be Harley Quinn (but I guess it doesn't hurt to fantasize), Bell has three other projects in various stages of production. Unfortunately, they seem to be the usual run of the mill romantic comedies that all young actresses seem to have to make at some point in their career. Bell will also be making a reappearance on TV's Heroes this season as the electrifying baddie, Elle Bishop. But none of these projects will get Bell fans hyped like the rumored Veronica Mars flick -- no matter how misguided that idea might be.

Astro Boy is scheduled to arrive in theaters in 2009.


[Thanks: Coming Soon]

We all know that the Internet is the birthplace of nasty rumors. It has been proven many times before that bad word of mouth has the power to cripple a flick. But Fox has been fighting back the naysayers and have debunked a rumor that has been gaining speed surrounding James Wong's live-action Dragonball. Rumors had surfaced over at Film Junk last week that the studio was about to pull the plug on their feature film version of the classic anime. The speculation began when Junk received a tip that "the higher-ups at Fox are not too impressed the footage that has been shot thus far, and are seriously debating shutting the whole thing down. -- the movie supposedly has a budget of over $100 million and I can understand them wanting to cut some losses while they still can."

Dragonball stars Justin Chatwin as Goku (a controversial casting choice to say the least), a hero on a quest to find the "mystical Dragonballs" before the evil Lord Piccolo (as played by James Marsters) can get his hands on them. Also starring are Emmy Rossum as Bulma, Chow Yun-Fat as Master Roshi, and Jamie Chung as Goku's love interest, Chi Chi.

But, for better or for worse, it turns out that it was nothing but a load of nasty innuendo. The official blog for Dragonball has since gotten to the bottom of the whole mess, and according to them, "20th Century Fox states the information reported was false and the film is still scheduled for an April 2009 release." Now, new reports are surfacing that Fox 'loves' what they have seen, and the only reason the release date was pushed back was to ensure enough time for finishing the F/X.

So what do you think? Is Fox's enthusiasm genuine for the much-maligned project, or just damage control gone into overdrive?

Dragonball will hit theaters in April, 2009.

The gang over at Collider got their hands on a new picture from Land of the Lost -- and as I'd like them to keep their scoop (particularly since the trades like ripping them off), you'll have to click on the bug-eyed lizard to see the whole photo. Devin Faraci has confirmed the photo is the real deal, and that it's the first look at Enik. If you adored the show (which I didn't, the Sleestaks scared the crap out of me), you might remember this kind fellow as the guard of a time portal. He's played by John Boylan, who's really quite handsome under that make-up.

Enik represents what the Sleestaks once were -- a proud civilization called the Altrusians, a race that could talk and wear clothes, and who eventually devolved into the mean and naked Sleestaks. (Humanity, take note.) I'm not sure how they managed to make Enik look friendlier and less soul-destroying than the other Sleestaks, but his black eyes don't scare me nearly as much.

Land of the Lost opens July 17th, 2009.